The prior art has examples of reversible clothing, including hats, whereby different colors may be displayed by simply reversing the structure or turning it inside out. Some hats, by the nature of their fabric, such as felt, are capable of a certain amount of shaping, but usually once shaped the hat does not lend itself to reshaping without considerable effort. Many hats have been made of soft fabric so that depending on how the hat is worn, the fabric may fall differently and to give somewhat different appearances. The present invention, however, is directed to a hat which is capable of being reshaped and worn in different modes in various shaped forms. The structure of such a hat is believed by the inventor to be novel.
The hat of the present invention is basically an annular structure. Although a cap conforming to the top of the head might be attached to the inner edge of the annulus, for most purposes such a structure is not desired. In fact, without the added cap, the inner edge instead of fitting against the head of a wearer may be lowered to neck level and provides a decorative collar. In either form, the annulus is comprised of a tubular collar of flexible material with sufficient body to aid in the maintaining of selected shapes and preferably to resist wrinkles. Within the tubular body is provided a malleable wire having a minimum elasticity and capable of being deformed to change shape. Once deformed, it retains the changed shape until further deformation which preferably can be done easily by the hands of the wearer. The malleable wire is of such length and general configuration as to fit within, conform to and generally define an outer periphery of the generally oval configuration of the sleeve throughout most of the length of that periphery. The wire is preferably stitched adjacent the outer edge of the annular sleeve so that it will be held along that periphery, but preferably in a way such that the wire can slip within the stitching as deformation occurs. The ends of the sleeve are connected together by an elastic connector attached to each of the respective ends of the tubular sleeve, as by sewing, to complete the annulus. This is done in such a way that an elastic stretch provided by the connector and the relatively unstretchable inner periphery of the annulus will serve together as a hat band adjusting to the wearer's head size. In most cases it is preferred to cover the elastic connector by a small tube of the same material as the hat which may also be stitched between the ends of the tubular sleeve or actually made as a reduced end portion of one end of the tubular sleeve and stitched to the other. In either event, the tubular connector member is folded or convoluted like a bellows in order to accommodate the elastic connector in its relaxed position, but allow it to be stretched unfolding the convolutions to accommodate the head of the wearer and serve to adjust the size of the hat band as needed.
When used as a hat, the inner periphery provides stability on the head of the wearer and the outer periphery is given form by the malleable wire within the tubular member at its outer edge. The outer periphery is preferably smaller than would be necessary to allow the tube to lie flat so that the wire will tend to hold it above the headband or below the headband depending upon how it is adjusted by the wearer. From either of these positions it may be moved in various ways to achieve different tilted or folded effects using the natural foldability of the fabric and bendability of the wire. The hat is intended to be shaped by bending the malleable wire to any desired shape to give interesting folds and contours to the hat.
When used as a collar even more versatility is possible. The collar can be used in different ways by providing the narrow elastic connected portion in the back of the neck of the wearer or in the front. It can be turned down or up to give a different effect in either position and again it can be made to assume different kinds of patterns by bending the malleable wire and patterning the fabric as desired.
More specifically, the hat/collar of the present invention comprises a tubular sleeve of generally annular configuration, said sleeve being composed of flexible fabric having sufficient body and firmness to retain folds. A malleable wire having minimum elasticity and capable of being deformed by hand to change its shape. The malleable wire retains such changed shape until again deformed by hand. The malleable wire is of such length and general configuration as to fit within and conform to and generally define an outer periphery of the annular configuration of the sleeve throughout most of the length of that periphery. An elastic connector is attached to each of the respective ends of the tubular sleeve to elastically interconnect the ends to complete the annulus in such a way that the elastic stretch is provided and the inner periphery of the annulus will serve as a hat band adjusting to the wearer's head size.